Want to get away from Orange County, California for a week or two.. looking to head somewhere with mountains, trees, forests, creeks/lakes.. just a secluded nice getaway place different from Orange County. Wanna spend as little as possible, have own car but will need a place to sleep obviously.. gonna go mid-july. Any advice? I was thinking 1 night in santa barbara, 1 night close to big sur and 3 nights san francisco area/norcal.. and maybe a few nights in oregon.
>>1249273
hard to type from phone but, would big bear be nice? or what about santa cruz/ mendocino/shasta? bend/crater lake/salem?
I am having a very hard time deciding .
>>1249273
Op again, forgot to add - is there any way of doing a 2 week long trip for under 1000K (with 2 people)?
>>1249298
... a 2-week trip for under a million Ameridollars? N-no. Send me your credit card details and I'll walk you through a trip that's only 221.299$!
>>1249301
under 1,000$ USD. I wouldn't ask for advice if i had a million.
There are about a million options because the pacific coast is awesome. IMO Santa Barbara is lame, kind of a generic rich beach town. Big Sur is cool, and from SF you could go to Yosemite. By July the snow should be melted out in the Sierra. You can drive through Yosemite park to the east side and visit Mammoth Lakes, pic related. Crater Lake can be done in half a day but isn't worth the drive up to Oregon.
If you stay in hostels with dorm beds, you might be looking at $40-90 per day per person depending on how much you eat out and drive.
Go on Highway 1 and head all the way up to Gualala.
>>1249273
I would just go to Yosemite for at least a few days
>>1249273
If you want to camp out somewhere go check out sequoia I went with friends camping not too long ago its really beautiful. even if just for a night.
>>1249273
Sonoma County
Check out Big Sur, I’m going there this weekend actually. It’s wonderful.
A few hours North is Marin County. It also has some nice nature hiking areas, such as Mount Tamalpais. The waterfalls at Alamere Falls are also nice and offer a beautiful hike to water that flows into the ocean. There’s also a small lake near the waterfalls called Bass Lake that you can swim in. Sometimes there’s rope swings that hikers tie on the trees, to hop into the water.
Several hours North of Marin County is Sequoia National Park, home to the largest trees in the world.
Also, Mount Shasta is a nice place, very far from any city. Last year on 4th of July I went to McCloud Falls near Mount Shasta. It’s incredible. There’s lower, middle, and upper falls. You can swim in the lower falls and middle falls. The weather was perfect so jumping into the icy water felt great and refreshing.
>>1249668
Well, you spelled it way wrong. 1000K would be like 1,000,000. you meant to write 1k then if you only have a thousand
If you want to focus on nature, make your way North to the Santa Cruz area, check Half Moon Bay and redwood forests like Big Basin. You can probably find cheap places to stay like hostels or campgrounds.
Then head North-East to Yosemite. The cheapest places to stay there are probably camp grounds; book ahead of time to make sure there's something available because summer can be a busy time. Eating out there can be expensive, it's better to buy food at a supermarket if you want to save money. If camping, remember to put ALL food and scented products in the bear lockers. The bears WILL raid your camp and/or break into your car if you leave food, or anything food-smelling anywhere. To add insult to injury, if you leave food in the car and a bear wrecks your car, you will be fined by a ranger.
Yosemite is amazng and beautiful, well worth the hastle.
After that, continue North to Lake Tahoe. There are many affordable motels and camp grounds. My favorite campground is Camp Richardson, it's just a short walk to the Lake and trails along the lake with historic estates that are like outdoor museums now, like the Pope Estate. If you keep walking East, along the beach, you'll get to Taylor Creek. Follow the pathways up the creek and you'll explore a beautuful marsh land with lots of birds and beavers. Salmon run there every fall. The pathways can be flooded in the off-season, but in summer they should be open and clear.
The warnings about food and bears apply when camping in Tahoe as well, but I can't remember if bear-proof lockers are provided there or not, it's been a while. Either way, I think the bears here are a little less bold. You won't likely even see one, but they're there, especially at night.
There are certainly resources online that can give you a more detailed reccomendation of things to see near Half-Moon Bay, Yosemite and Lake Tahoe. As a Northern California person, I reccomend visiting those three areas in particular.